QVIews

In the current issue of E-ZineIQ, Strongmail Systems VP Dave Lewis encourages all email marketers to get on board with email authentication. He makes a strong case that legitimate emailers need to see the future coming up which includes reputation systems and the segregation of email by class (shades of snail mail). He also predicts…

"It’s just an experiment" say some of Google’s competitors. Ho, ho, ho, it’s the BIG first step. Google is not an internet company, it’s an advertising company. A great big price discounter, I expect. CNET: Google takes ad sales to print by Elinor Mills and Stephanie Olsen. Google recently began buying ad pages in technology…

Over at the LA Times, Chris Gaither has a excellent recap of the state of viral marketing, including a revealing case study with Borla Performance Industries. It goes step-by-step through how to create and support a viral advertisement. LA Times: A Web Contagion by Chris Gaither (Free registration required. Via AAF SmartBrief.) Marketers like viral…

Competition to sell muscial instruments to the masses has never been fiercer. Low prices are everywhere. So how can Guitar Center (the Wal-Mart of instruments) compete? By recognizing the competition faced by locally based musicians. Guitar Center has developed a sound understanding of musicians who want to establish a following and begun providing them all…

Readers of Cooking Light are being invited to magazine-organized parties. A recent event in Midtown Manhattan drew 250 attendees who paid around $50 and received gift bags from the sponsors. Cooking Light is being choosy about advertiser involvement and readers are still organizing their own events as well. Advertisers like Woodbridge Wines are enthusiastic. Magazines…

I recommend this entire article by David Carr which does a good job of analyzing how citizen journalism works on the web. Influence does not belong to anyone with a blog. It belongs to committed experimenters with passion and discipline. Like the people at Pitchfork. NY Times: Garage Rock Meets Garage Critics by David Carr…

Alan Webber and William Taylor may finally see the business publications picking up on some of their ideas. Joanne Lipman created the Personal Journal at the WSJ. And David Carey worked briefly at Gruner & Jahr on Fast Company and Inc. I predict the development of the business lifestyle magazine. It’s been a long time…

At iMedia Connection, Pete Snyder of New Media Strategies, has an excellently reasoned explanation of why companies need to train all their employees to become brand ambassadors…because they will blog. iMedia Connection: Embrace and Empower Employees by Pete Snyder Blogs are word-of-mouth on speed — peer-to-peer communications that will trump top-down marketing nearly every time.…

Great article at ClickZ on the state of the art in community web sites. ClickZ: Community Rules by Hans-Peter Brondmo "What about ease of use?" you ask. Most sites I’ve tried, with a few exceptions, are complicated. It takes effort to learn how to use this stuff. That’s OK, as long as there’s tangible benefit…

I read this article in the NY Times about novelist Warren Adler because I’m interested in the self-publishing revolution enable by the internet, but I recommend this joyous interview to everyone. It provides a wonderful perspective on ‘breaking through’ the publishing industry. NY Times: Steal This Book. Or At Least Download It Free. by Claudia…